Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer.
We hope you all have a safe and relatively peaceful Bonfire Night.
For today’s long read we return to the subject of George Street and the £34m plan to transform it into a pedestrian-friendly precinct.
You might recall the optimism which surrounded the plan when we talked to city council transport convener Stephen Jenkinson last year about what he hoped to deliver (How data will reshape George Street for the 21st century).
It is fair to say the feelgood factor has largely evaporated, as the shifting priorities of the political parties on the council, has left the the local authority scrambling to find £14 million in savings, slashing the budget by a third.
It means instead of a lovely, shiny new George Street, rather like the new-look George Square which is proving a hit with many Glaswegians, we’re heading for a bargain basement version.
Of course, £14 million is a substantial amount of money, but with up to £50 million a year expected to be raised by the Visitor Levy to support services and infrastructure used by tourists there’s a case to be made for it being a missed opportunity.
Prudent financial management? Or an abject failure to plan sensibly for the future? You pay your money and take your choice.
As James Garry, assistant director of the city’s conservation watchdogs the Cockburn Association, neatly puts it, the savings need to be considered “against the street we will inherit for decades to come”.
As Edinburgh contemplates what’s in store, you can almost hear the hissing sound of the deflation being felt across the capital.
You can read our report in full below, either as a paying member or with a free trial, after your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
LOONY DOOK’S AFF: The original Loony Dook at South Queensferry won’t go ahead this year after organiser Tony Pirouet said he couldn’t guarantee the safety of the large crowds expected. The fancy dress dip has been a New Year tradition for 40 years, but Pirouet who rescued the event in 2023 said it needed “road closures, safety fencing and marshalls”. There are hopes the event may be able to return for New Year 2028.
HOSPITAL TO GO: Demolition work at Liberton Hospital is set to get underway in the coming weeks in preparation for 400 homes being built on the site. The hospital’s 1960s buildings will be razed with the Edwardian main buildings and gatehouse preserved and incorporated in the redevelopment.
AI FLOOD: The city council is struggling to cope with a tide of AI-generated complaints. The local authority is to investigate whether AI tools can be used to help triage vexatious complaints after the issue was raised by Conservative councillor Jo Mowat.
NOT HITTING THE HEIGHTS: Plans to build a 6-storey, 270-bed student accommodation block on the edge of Musselburgh have been thrown out by East Lothian councillors. The move comes after doubts were cast on the practicality of the proposal to make the development car-free with one councillor describing it as “a fantasy”.
GROOMING GANG INQUIRY: A survivor of Edinburgh grooming gang abuse has accused the Scottish Government of failing to deliver on its promise almost nine months ago to deliver an urgent public inquiry. BBC Scotland reports that Holly Alex, 36, was “groomed” for sex by “adult Asian men” after being taken into care as a teenager in the city. She said roughly 25 to 50 men were involved in her abuse in a series of flats in Edinburgh and Livingston during her time in care. Education Secretary Màiri McAllan said the government remained fully committed to the inquiry and the safeguarding of children.
FIREWORK ARRESTS: Two teenagers have been charged after fireworks were thrown at passers-by on Bonnyrigg High Street in Midlothian on Halloween.
ZOO HOTEL: The 5-storey former Forest Commission office block opposite Edinburgh Zoo is to be converted into a 235-room hotel, after the council gave the go-ahead to the redevelopment which features a restaurant and bar, fitness facility, events space and cycle storage.
Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops
Greetings, Pop Pickers!
As the crisp November air fills with the smell of bonfire smoke, the dog-persecuting bangs of Guy Fawkes Night, and (for me) the cheery whisper of sub-tropical waters on sand, it is time to deliver your weekly cultural countdown, writes Will Quinn.
So, while I go aggressively seek out some vitamin D, you’re in the incredibly capable hands of Edinburgh’s box offices. The sheer volume of incoming brilliance and departing heavy-hitters has made the Honourable Mentions list so stacked it could easily form its own chart. It’s a particularly ruthless week, but a glorious one. Yes, indeed!
Right then, pop pickers - let’s count them down!
Honourable Mentions: A Bonfire of Brilliance
Before we hit the Top 5, we must pay tribute to a staggering bubbler list. For those seeking thrills, you have just days left to catch Matthew Bourne’s greasy, petrol-soaked 1950s dance thriller The Car Man at the Festival Theatre (closes Saturday) - slipping from last week’s bronze position into the honourables as its run concludes. Meanwhile, over at the Lyceum, true psychological dread arrives in the form of The Haunting of Hill House (November 10th – 14th) to cure you of any lingering post-Halloween hangovers.
Musically, it is a weekend of wondrous extremes. On Thursday, you can warm your hands by the musical fire of the SCO’s Tchaikovsky Serenade at The Queen’s Hall (tonight). Friday night then offers a brutal choice: the sweat-drenched stadium trad-rock of Skerryvore at the Corn Exchange (tomorrow), or the strictly sophisticated, seated acoustic masterclass from Celtic titans Chisholm, McGoldrick, O’Connor and Byrne back at The Queen’s Hall (tomorrow). Finally, for the comedy crowd, Tom Walker brings his blistering, spittle-flecked satirical rage to the EICC as The End Of The World According To Jonathan Pie (Sunday).
New in at Number 5 is... The Edinburgh Short Film Festival (Filmhouse & Summerhall, tomorrow until November 21st)
Breaking into the Top 5 is the return of the capital’s premier celebration of bite-sized cinema, kicking off its 16th edition this Friday. Taking over the screens at both the Filmhouse and Summerhall, the ESFF is serving up seven nights of fiercely competitive, eclectic international cinema. Ranging from Chinese neo-noir to Finnish stop-motion, and from Kurdish documentary to Australian horror, it is the perfect cinematic tasting menu. Get yourself into a dark room and look pensive so other people know you’re a real cinephile (like Michael Bolton).
Slipping two spots to Number 4 is... Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical (King’s Theatre, until Saturday)
Down from last week’s silver medal solely because it’s packing up the wagons this weekend, SpitLip’s Olivier Award-winning juggernaut is on its absolute final victory lap. If you haven’t yet seen Britain’s most absurd WWII deception turned into a blisteringly fast, high-camp triumph (singing Nazis and weaponised cadavers included), consider this your final boarding call before it leaves town.
New in at Number 3 is... Allegro presents The Little Mermaid (Church Hill Theatre, November 11th – 14th)
Claiming the bronze medal is Edinburgh’s acclaimed amateur musical theatre society, Allegro, taking on the beloved Disney classic. While the Church Hill Theatre often hosts community runs, Allegro consistently delivers above and beyond what anyone might reasonably expect from non-professionals. As The QR observed when reviewing their barnstorming production of The Cher Show, this company possesses a rare gift for matching “camp excess” with “sheer heart and vocal muscle.” Just how they will bring an animated underwater world full of anthropomorphised sea-fauna to life on a dry stage without a West End special effects department, you’ll just have to go and see for yourself. It is the perfect, joyous antidote to the gloom outside—support local theatre, buy a raffle ticket, and enjoy the unadulterated thrill of amateur unpaid professional dramatics done brilliantly.
Dethroned from Number 1 to Number 2 is... Man to Man (Traverse Theatre, until Saturday)
Surrendering the crown only because the curtain falls on its strictly limited Traverse run this Saturday, Tilda Swinton’s tour de force remains the hottest ticket in the country. Navigating decades of German upheaval in her dead husband’s trousers, Swinton delivers what The QR’s Sandra MacDonald hailed as an urgent masterclass of “commanding inner stillness” and a “chilling reminder of how history repeats itself.” Raid the returns queue before this landmark staging packs its bags for Berlin and Broadway!
New in at Number 1 is... Scottish Opera: Turandot (Festival Theatre, November 11th – 22nd).
Sweeping straight into the top spot is opera at its most unapologetically spectacular. Scottish Opera is a world-class operation - we are lucky to have them - and this brand-new staging looks luscious. World-renowned Scottish director Sir David McVicar returns to direct Puccini’s epic, unfinished final masterpiece in its centenary year, reuniting with conductor Stuart Stratford to unleash the gothic splendour alongside set designer Charles Edwards. Danish dramatic soprano Trine Møller takes the fearsome titular role opposite tenor Victor Starsky as Calaf, joined by Insung Sim and the brilliant Hye-Youn Lee. Backed by the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, a muscular chorus, and a children’s ensemble, this is visually opulent, roof-raising music theatre on the grandest scale imaginable. Who isn’t a sucker for Nessun Dorma? It is the ultimate reason to dress up, grab something sparkling at the interval, and let Puccini rattle your ribs. An undisputed chart-topper!
And that’s your Top 5!
Whether you are catching Tilda Swinton’s final bow at the Traverse, plunging under the sea at the Church Hill Theatre, or letting Puccini rattle your ribs at the Festival Theatre, you have quite the week ahead of you.
I shall leave you to it while I go and track down Margarita number four. Which excluded favourite deserves justice, and what’s sitting at the top of your own ticket pile? Let me know in the comments - right after you’ve hit those booking links! I’ll take a look when I get back, honest.
Until next week: Stay bright!
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Sett-to over plans for George Street
Capital plans scaled back to save money as Glasgow’s George Square delivers beautiful civic space
by Euan McGrory
You might call it a tale of two city centres.
Glasgow’s city centre has struggled more than Edinburgh’s in recent years without the same steady flow of tourists to help keep the tills ringing. Its city council is not without its financial challenges - facing an estimated budget overspend of more than £100m over the next two years - yet it has delivered a project with striking similarities to the one Edinburgh is considering cutting at the last minute.
You can walk out of Glasgow’s Queen Street Station straight on to George Square where the finishing touches are being put to a £20 million transformation. What is emerging is a genuinely beautiful civic space. The square and surrounding road are laid out in the same granite setts, with a flat, no-kerb surface linking the two, creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment.
Glasgow’s city leaders say they set out to create a “greener square with less traffic” and a civic space “Scotland can be proud of”. They look to have succeeded.
The result is attractive and accessible, with trees, flower beds and a mixture of bespoke wooden benches and tables and chairs. It is attractive and accessible enough that you can find people sitting out enjoying a morning coffee there during a morning rush-hour in November.
It is, in short, everything that Edinburgh has been talking about for George Street. That was very much the prospect when the council’s transport and environment committee agreed to spend £31.75 million on George Street last year. The estimated total cost for the work has now risen to more than £34 million.
That plan, however, was overturned by a full council meeting when the city’s Lib Dems, SNP and Conservatives insisted on a rethink, with the money set aside being spread more thinly to fund improvements across the wider city centre including Princes Street.
